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He extracted himself from the doggy pile and went to the phone. With all the danger and chaos passed, it was time to execute his previous plans. He needed to hire a new nanny, as well as see about supporting her in her own dreams.
But first, he just wanted to get a little clearer in his own head about it all. He wanted Winona to be free to make her own choices, about him, about the family. And he wanted her to be an equal partner. He didn’t feel she could do that if she was relying on him for her salary. He tried to sort out the best solution that would handle all these angles. Maybe the pack could hire her, he thought. Regardless, they would need some help with the kids to free her up a bit at least.
He started to wake the boys, wanting to get started on getting everybody home and back to their regular life. He hoped the boys would rest easier knowing that Frederick was officially of no concern. Would Bucky and Jaye feel any differently about the loss of their dad? They had been so young it was hard to know how much it still affected them. Would it help the boys heal a little deeper? He knew that only time would tell.
He heard Winona moving around in the kitchen and decided to let her be until he had gotten the boys all moving. He slowly pulled away all their blankets, and watched as they fought to remain asleep beneath their receding covers. One by one, the kids awoke and headed for either the bathroom or kitchen. Rollo offered a morning kiss here and a tickle there to welcome them to a new day. Bucky sprang up and ran into the other room. Rollo could hear Winona and the boys getting to work on breakfast. Rollo continued cleaning and tidying.
He sighed and let gratitude wash over him. Gratitude for the protection this place had provided his family, and gratitude for his family. He felt Winona arrive behind him and put her hand on his arm.
“You all right, babe? You want to come get some food?”
Rollo smiled at her.
“I’m just so thankful,” he said, as he followed her back into the kitchen. She smiled back at him as they walked back into the kitchen full of boys.
CHAPTER27
Back at Rollo’s house, Winona was beginning to almost feel normal again. So much had happened it was almost crazy to think she even could feel normal.Normal.How do you define normal after going from being unemployed to kidnapped, to in love, to, well, kidnapped and then saved again.All in what, a week?
But finally, here she was, waking up back in Rollo’s house again. Where it all started. But what woke her was not the sound of boys laughing and playing or the smells coming from the kitchen. It was more the sounds of construction, or rather destruction coming from outside.
Getting herself together, she finally made her way down the stairs toward the sounds of Rollo and the kids. Apparently, he had decided to let her sleep in.God knows I needed it.
She walked out to the kitchen to find Rollo in the act of catching a spatula that he’d thrown in the air. All four boys were watching him intently. When he caught her eye, he yelled, “Boys! Winona has arrived!! Pancaaaaakes, on the table! Go! Go! Go!”
The boys all spun off their stools at the island and ran over to the table, sitting at their place seatings with patently false angelic looks on their faces, their hands folded calmly in front of them. Winona moved slowly over to the table, very suspicious of this whole thing. Rollo gestured that she sit down at the table, as he bent to look at the bacon in the oven.
She sat, and the boys all beamed at her. “Boys. What is going on? And what is the racket coming from outside, Rollo?” She had meant to take a look outside. “What on earth is going on around here?”
“Well, to answer your question, we are treating you to breakfast! It would have been breakfast in bed had you just stayed put a little while longer too!” said Jasper.
“And to answer your other question,” said Rollo, “I decided it is time for that wall to finally come down. I thought you would be glad to see it, after the way our initial ‘get to know you’ phase went!” he said laughing.
She ran to the window, and parting the curtains, was greeted by the very welcome sight of the perimeter wall being demolished all the way round.
“Amen!” she said, almost feeling a weight come off her shoulders. “You did this for me, didn’t you?” she said, beaming.
“Well, I did it for all of us, for the boys, for you. Hell, I did it for myself. It’s time for a new start. No more living in fear,” he said as he went around opening the remaining curtains. “Um… I just thought the wall was a bad look in general after our, uh, rather dubious start.”
“Oh, is that what you call it?” she laughed. “Dubious?”
“That’s what I’m going with for now,” he said, obviously quickly moving on. “And that’s not all I did for all of us,” he said, as the boys all giggled excitedly.
“What has gotten into you all?” she said as she looked around suspiciously. “Come on, just fess up. It’s always better to just tell the truth, right away. Always.”
Jaye looked at her with a comical expression on his face. “What on earth are you talking about, my good lady? All we are doing is sitting quietly at the table, waiting to have our breakfast! Everything is perfectly ordinary, right, guys?”
She heard giggles from the other boys. She rolled her eyes. It would all be sorted out, eventually, and she was glad they were having a good time. She looked up as she felt Rollo approach, watching him arrive with an enormous tray, as if they were in a banquet hall and he was catering. He placed the tray on the table and it was full. Each plate had a different meal on it, and there were several plates of bacon, and fruit, and muffins too.Full is an understatement,she thought to herself.There is no way this amount of food was produced by one man, even with help, or what passed for help from the boys.
She looked at him, and back at the kitchen, and the boys were watching her the whole time.
Rollo sat down and all four boys and Rollo stared at her, waiting for her to say something. She spread her hands out on the table, looking at the feast in front of her with wide eyes. The boys were almost sparking, they were so excited, just watching her.
“Okay! I give! I completely give! What on earth is going on here?! How could you make all this food, Rollo?! Where even was it? How? How?!”
The boys burst into peals of laughter and Rollo joined in.
“Well, you know…your, er…um, our current relationship has, um…expanded, shall we say….” Began Rollo, much to the delight of the boys who started giggling again. “And so, well, I thought perhaps we could use some additional help around here.”
